More countries adopting strong vehicle fuel economy policies says GFEI report

Wed 15 January 2014 View all news

A new report from the Global Fuel Economy (GFEI) Initiative finds that countries are increasingly acknowledging the need for strong policies on fuel economy and are investigating, developing and implementing those policies. GFEI's annual report highlights major developments on fuel economy which have taken place over the past year.

However, GFEI says that there is still a long way to go to reach the 2030 target of a 50% reduction in new car fuel consumption (L/100km) compared to 2005 levels, particularly in non-OECD countries.

Major developments over the last year which are highlighted by the report include:

  • The US and Canada became the first countries to set fuel economy standards towards 2025
  • Mexico set its first standards
  • The EU, China and Japan updated, tightened and extended light-duty fuel economy standards
  • Standards were developed though not yet implemented in India
  • Discussions on standards are underway in some Southeast Asian and Latin American countries
  • Mauritius developed and implemented what appears to be the first fuel economy/CO2-based feebate system in the developing world
  • Chile introduced its first ever fuel economy labelling policy.

Although fuel economy data for new car sales in most countries is not yet available beyond 2011, the rate of fuel economy improvement in major countries around the world was faster between 2008 and 2011 than it was between 2005 and 2008, which the GFEI says is encouraging.

The report points out that there is a need for further improvement, particularly in non-OECD countries. While average new light-duty-vehicle (LDV) fuel economy in the OECD improved by 2.7% per year between 2008 and 2011, in non-OECD countries it improved by only 0.6% (based on an IEA sample of countries including most major markets). This caused average OECD fuel economy to surpass non-OECD possibly for the first time, with 2011 averages of 7.0 L/100km in OECD and 7.5 in non-OECD.

The report emphasises that a faster pace of fuel economy improvements is needed if the GFEI targets are to be reached. 

Sheila Watson, Director of Environment for the FIA Foundation and Executive Secretary of the GFEI said: “As detailed in our State of the World report, many emerging and developing countries are making important progress on fuel economy. But what we now need is a stronger push on fuel economy than the planet has set in place so far. If we’re to reach a global reduction of 50% in new car fuel use by 2030 we’ll need more policies in more countries, and we’ll need to see an extension and strengthening of policies already in existence. Fuel economy is improving, but we can and must accelerate progress.”

The report also outlines the range of measures that countries need to adopt to make progress on fuel economy. Few countries have a “full package” of measures although perhaps not all countries need this, it says.

A full package would include: fuel economy labelling systems; fuel economy standards requiring manufacturers to make improvements to their new models; and pricing systems to encourage consumers to purchase the most efficient models, such as CO2-based vehicle taxation or fee/rebate (feebate) systems. Fuel taxation also sends a very important signal in this regard and many countries still subsidize motor fuel.

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